Château Petit-Village

This 11-hectare vineyard, bordered by Châteaux Vieux Château Certain and La Conseillante to the north and south respectively, has been owned by AXA since 1989, with Christian Seely in charge.

The AXA team have carried out extensive renovations of the vineyard and facilities here and it shows.

The terroir is rich in gravel laying over a clay-limestone subsoil and the wine is typically a blend of about 80% merlot and 10% each of cabernets sauvignon and franc.

At harvest time the bunches are hand -picked, over several tries, into small trays to protect them from damage as they go to the winery. There they are twice sorted to ensure that only the best fruit ends up in the vat.

Fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled concrete vats, plot by plot, before the wine spends between 14 and 18 months in 70% new oak barrels.